Imagine if everyone is an atheist?

Question

I don't care if you're an atheist or a theist, this is not about religion or God, this is about society, general rules and order.

Imagine that everyone is an atheists, no one believes in God.

Now tell me, what are the pros and cons of this, what sort of society it will produce, what are the long term effects.

Is the pros worth more than the cons, or vice versa?

Please explain your answers and opinion with much needed details.

Try not to be biased, do not include religion into this discussion, let's just discuss what will happen to society without a religion, the pros and cons.

What I meant from "not to include religion into this" is that I don't want to see anyone posting "Everyone will go to Hell" or "How can there be a world without Christ"

It's irrelevant to the discussion and it annoys me.

Answer 1

Interesting question.

I don't believe that being an atheist or being religious has anything to do with moral values. George Carlin said that everything boils down to being a good person. Common sense really. The pros would be no holy wars. History would change. No Crusades, no 9/11. No Waco or jonestown. Best of all no Pat Robertson. No freaks protesting at soldiers funerals. I don't really see many cons.

But......Many people need something to follow or believe in. Life for them would be pointless if there was nothing else. There would be a lot more suicides. A lot more people without something/anything to guide them means alot of sad zombies.

But.....Lets remember that some religions ie..Buddhism, do not believe in god. So perhaps some of the people above would find solace and contentment in something else.

Answer 2

If nobody believed in any gods, the word "atheist" would not need to exist. It's kind of silly to even have the word at all. Why do we need a word to describe people who DON'T believe in something?

Anyway, yeah, there'd be no holy wars, but that doesn't mean there wouldn't be wars over oil, territory, etc. There would still be laws, but none of them would be based on "God told me so." People wouldn't believe in an afterlife, so they'd focus more on this life and what they could do to make it better, knowing there would be nothing else. The word "afterlife" would not exist. There would be no telepreachers, no JWs, no Bibles in hotel rooms, no Hare Krishas, no churches, synagogues, or temples, no concept of creation or original sin. Most of the stuff that wouldn't exist we'd be better off without, anyway.

Medicine and science would be far more advanced than they are now. I know this because even a casual study of history reveals how the church has objected to every advance in science at every turn, even executing people for daring to say that the Earth goes around the sun. Now they are objecting to evolution, stem cell research, and many other things that are useful and increase our understanding of life. Without religion to interfere, there would be less money going into dangerous pursuits like war, and more of it being channeled into medical research and the space program.

That being said, I believe that religion was an inevitable development of the human mind. I think much of it came from the use of hallucinogenic drugs such as opium, peyote, mushrooms, and ayahuasca. It must have seemed to the ancients that they really did enter another world when these drugs were imbibed, and from their experiences came (at least partly) the first beliefs in gods and other invisible entities. Thus, to have a world with no religion, we'd have to live in a world without hallucinogens.

Answer 3

How can we possibly NOT include religion in an answer to such a question?! First of all, the answer has to start with "If there weren't any religion then..." Then, how would we describe a world without any rel;igion if we can't compare it to this world were religion is the cause of wars and tragedies?! You're asking us to describe a world in which religion never existed. You ask us to describe a world in which religion never influenced people. It will be such a sad world, I think...
Long term effects? There will be no long term effects since that world has never known religion! It will be the way it has always been. What pros or cons do you want us to...produce if the religion is taken out of the equation? You know what? I have an idea: there are so many decent science fiction movies in which gods are not mentioned and religions are non-existent. Watch them because the scripts were probably written by people who imagined a Universe without any religion.

Answer 4

Id say society would be much better. Think of it: religion causes almost all conflict. 9/11 was cause by radical Muslims, world war 2 because of a difference in beliefs, depriving women of rights because of christian and Muslim beliefs, no more homophobia, and a woman wont have to be shamed on for getting an abortion. Society would agree more on political issues, abortion, gay marriage, to name a few. We would all have very similar beliefs which would make people more agreeable, get along, and have far less conflict. People dont need something to believe in. Instead of building a church, why not a hospital? Or something useful? Instead of making stuff up to explain the world, why not find the real, logical answer? Through science.

Answer 5

Ah, beautiful john Lennon - Imagine.

Well, i don't believe in religion but i believe in spirituality. i have been much inspired by Einstein in his view of the world - a curiosity and search for the truth is spirituality. But Einstein wanted to "know God's thoughts" and advised us to "never stop questioning." There's nothing more exciting than a mystery and "the world is but a stage." I think it is the heart that matters most. The pagans got it right in a few words - "An it harm none, do what ye wilt." Freedom unless it encroaches upon others' boundaries. There is truth everywhere, but you need to be discerning too!! Spirituality comes in many guises and religions. Just be aware of being exploited. There have been Christ-like figures throughout history i believe. Peace.

Answer 6

Unfortunately, religion has been the direct and indirect cause of most wars in the world. Even though I believe there's God, I could see the world a happier place without religion; we would probably be happier people if we got rid of the feelings of guilt, shame and fear caused by religious beliefs; we would also try harder to improve our lives and help each others if we didn't depend so much on God's help.

Answer 7

Pros:
No more religious extremist violence
No more confusion on religion itself
More liberty for some special interest groups

Cons:
Immorality will increase
Life would be futile, as there is nothing to really live for
The world would lead to a technological based work-world where AI would probably replace human life (and it would take me way too long to get into that, so if you really want to know the details on that, you'll have to contact me)

Answer 8

At least people wouldn't blow themselves up for thier gods...and you wouldn't have another thing to hold against someone because they believe in something different...
Although I am Agnostic, I do believe that alot of people would be lost without religion, for some it is what they hold onto, its the reason we are who we are, the reason why we were created, so if you take that away, im sure that some people would feel alone, BUT if there was NO religion from the beginning, we would not know any different. i think the world would be almost the same, but i do think that something would be there instead of religion, i think its natural for people to have faith when they feel there is no other explanation. I guess this is something we will never know...and anyway, Athiests and Agnostice still live my honest morals, we just dont do it for a 'reward', we do it because its the right thing to do...

Answer 9

Society, from its deep roots would have not developed passed agrarian ideals, and this is not condemnable in itself. Society would neither have reason to shun others from divergent groups, nor reason to join them, communities would remain separate from each other, with some transmigration, and be mostly bereft of the full benefit of a world culture. city states would be the highest cultural union.

This is my opinion based upon historical understanding.

Undoubtedly, what does not last for ever can't provide an assurance of it being an everlasting benefit, so is gamble, and potentially meaningless but for a time.

Answer 10

John Lennon said it best:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

I happen to be an atheist who believes that religion is the root of a lot of evil: wars, prejudice, fear, superstition, ignorance, I could go on and on.

If there were no religion, no arbitrary set of rules to live by, no blind faith, I believe that people would be more accountable for their actions and, in turn, be more moral and more productive. It's easy to give up accountability and say, "It's God's will," but hard to realize that you are responsible for your own destiny.